


Who Walks With Angels

by Psynatural



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Season/Series 04, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angel Biology, Angel Dean Winchester, Angel Soulbonds, Angel True Forms, Angel Wings, Angelic Grace, BAMF Castiel, BAMF Dean, Castiel's True Form, Castiel/Dean Winchester Wing Kink, Dean Has A Wing Kink, Dean Loves Pie, Dean has a Fear of Flying, Dean's Soul, Fairy Tale Elements, Grace Bonds, Grace Kink, Grace Sex, Grace Sharing, Grace-Powered Orgasms, Happy Ending, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Mythology - Freeform, Pie, Protective Castiel, Soul Bond, Soul Sex, Tall Tales, Tricksters, Wing Kink, Winged Dean Winchester, Wingfic, Wings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-04
Updated: 2016-01-04
Packaged: 2018-05-13 03:02:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 21,221
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5692150
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Psynatural/pseuds/Psynatural
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Castiel raised Dean Winchester from Perdition too early for Heaven's nefarious plans.  Now Zachariah must team up with some unlikely allies to send Dean back to Hell so that Dean can be forced to break the First Seal like originally intended.  But since Zachariah can't tell the lower ranking angels the real Grand Plan, he creates a diversion by assigning Castiel to help the Winchesters capture Lilith alive.  Meanwhile, Dean's newly remade body isn't quite how he remembered it...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [cupidsbow](https://archiveofourown.org/users/cupidsbow/gifts).



> This story quickly goes very AU from the beginning of Season 4 with lots of new twists. There a few minor details from prior seasons that were retconned. Sam already told Dean about being fed demon blood as a baby. Victor Henriksen was not killed by Lilith.
> 
> I remixed a few different prompts for this story: (1) angel politics & biology, (2) non-hunters knowing about the Supernatural, and (3) tall tail fairy tale themes.
> 
> Since the story starts with Dean getting rescued from Hell and I gave him more comforting afterwards than he got in canon, it was a bit unavoidable to have a few small VERY MILD mentions of things like torture and PTSD, but I kept it all extremely light. There are NO detailed scenes covering any of these topics. If you can handle the first few paragraphs, you’re golden.
> 
> Please don’t cross-post my stories on other sites, but links are loved!
> 
> ❤ Comments! ❤

Time had no meaning anymore in Hell. It was just another day with another victim on the rack in front of Dean. He had long since stopped caring about who they were. So long as they were the ones hurting, he would be distracted from his own pain, which would otherwise consume him. It was better if he didn't let himself think or feel.

No – that was wrong. Alastair was playing with his head again, trying to make Dean think that he had already broken. It was cleaver really. If Alastair managed to convince Dean that Dean was already enjoying torturing other victims, then maybe Dean might not object the next time Alastair offered him a blade. But no matter how hard Alastair tried to trick Dean with the illusions, Dean could still tell when what he was experiencing wasn't real.

"Shove it up your ass," Dean retorted feebly when the now familiar offer came yet again. The days when Dean could say it with venom seemed like a distant dream. It was getting harder and harder to keep fighting. After many years of trying to stay firm in his resolve to never break, Dean could feel his strength crumbling and knew that he didn't have very many protests left in him. Even though Dean wasn't much of one for believing in miracles, he knew that it would take a miracle to save him from caving in to Alastair's demands soon. More than anything, Dean didn't want to be turned into the kind of monster he'd spent his whole life fighting, but he was just too tired to keep fighting the good fight alone.

Somebody – anybody – help me. Dean knew that there was nobody coming for him, but that hadn't stopped him from dreaming of being saved. But it was just a dream. Maybe it was time to face reality. He had put up a valiant fight, but in the end this was a battle that he just couldn't win.

However perhaps it wasn't just another day in Hell after all. In the thirty years that Dean had spent there, he had never seen such a beautiful bright bluish white light. It felt like something inside him was changing just by looking at it. But before Dean could react it was upon him. There was a sheering grip on his shoulder, and then he blacked out.

 

* * *

 

When Dean woke up he was disoriented. It took him a moment to realize that he had a physical body again. He had almost forgotten what it felt like. Dean was somewhere cold, dark, and cramped. Fumbling around, he found a lighter in his pocket just where he always used to keep it. When he flicked it on, his fears were confirmed. Dean was back in his old body alright – trapped six feet under.

"Help!" Dean tried calling weakly, hoping that if Sam was on the surface he could hear him. Dean was going to tear his idiot brother a new one for whatever he did to bring Dean back, since there was no way he could have done it without some horrible strings attached.

But somehow Dean sensed that Sam wasn't there. There were no humans for miles. How the hell did he know that? Dean didn't have time to worry about that when he had a much more immediate problem to deal with. If there was nobody around, then Dean was all on his own to somehow dig himself out of his own coffin.

Even just breaking open the roof of the pine box was enough to have dirt cascading down on top of him. Dean struggled to make the hole big enough to climb through before the coffin completely filled with dirt and cut off the last of his air. Still, he couldn't get a breath in that didn't accidentally include some dirt. Rather than hacking up a lung trying to get the dirt out again after every breath, Dean tried to hold his breath as he made a mad dash for the surface. It'd really suck to finally come back to the world of the living only to die again before he even got out of his coffin.

Against all odds and logic, Dean made it to the surface after digging through six feet of solidly packed dirt – all before he suffocated. The dirt was rock hard, and yet Dean had somehow managed to slice through it like butter. Clearly today was not going to be one of those days when the world made sense. He'd made it out of Hell, and had no luck left to spare for a logical explanation. Hell, after this kind of ultimate jail break, Dean would be lucky if his life would ever make sense again.

The ring of dead trees around his grave was not a good start to that. Dean had never seen anything like that before.

Maybe if he could find Sam, if Sam was still alive, they might be able to find some clues. Meanwhile, Dean had a long walk ahead of him.

 

* * *

 

The gas station was completely deserted. It was actually kinda creepy just how much of a ghost town this whole area was. Dean's skin crawled with the suspicion that whatever pulled him out had to be a seriously powerful badass if his presence had cleared out the whole area.

Dean had barely had time to wash the dust out of his mouth before the electronics started flickering. Shit. Placing salt around the doors and windows had been so deeply drilled into him that it was still automatic even after thirty years away. But somehow, Dean suspected that the salt was completely worthless against this supernatural entity. Dean could suddenly feel its presence all around him, and an otherworldly voice filled his head. To make the situation even more surreal, this presence felt familiar and almost comfortable.

<Dean Winchester, I am the one who gripped you tight and raised you from perdition.>

"Yeah I figured that much. Who are you?" Dean yelled.

<Castiel.>

"I mean what are you?" Dean demanded.

<I am an angel of the lord.>

"Get out of here. There is no such thing," Dean snapped back before his brain could remind his mouth that mouthing off against something this powerful was a very stupid thing to do.

<This is your problem Dean. You have no faith.>

In a blink of an eye, Dean was standing outside the gas station in an open field. A massive amount of bluish white light – as in the skyscraper-sized kind of massive – seemed to be appearing out of nowhere right in front of him. A pair of gigantic wings started to form out of the light, attached to a body that was shining far too bright for Dean to make out. He could tell that it was humanoid shaped, although the head seemed bigger and more lopsided, but there was too much light for him to make out the details. It felt like there were more eyes focused on Dean than the normal two that a human would have. His eyes kept being drawn to the gorgeous wings instead. The shimmering iridescent blue wasn't quite as bright, instead looking semi-transparent, but they glimmered with a dazzling beauty that Dean felt mesmerized by.

Dean's favorite word – awesome – just had a return to its roots. The sight before him was both absolutely incredible beyond words and the single most drop-dead terrifying thing he had ever seen. Seriously. Thirty years in Hell had nothing on this dude.

It was the kind of awe inspiring sight that moved most people to find religion.

But this was Dean Winchester.

"So what – just because you are big and powerful, doesn't mean that I'm gonna buy that you're an angel. What's next? You gonna claim God is real too?" Dean yelled, even though he had a feeling that the gigantic being in front of him could hear him just fine even if he only whispered.

<God is real.>. Dean noted with satisfaction that the being seemed taken aback by Dean's flippant attitude.

"You see? That's just what any smuck claiming to be an angel would say. So tell me – just what makes you so different from every other supernatural son of a bitch that Sammy and I have been hunting our entire lives?" Dean retorted. He could have sworn he could feel the being gazing right through him into his very soul. Dean swallowed, not expecting a good answer. How the Hell was he supposed to gank the biggest and baddest creature he had ever seen? He didn't even have any weapons, and had no clue what he was really up against. The logical side of Dean's mind was screaming at him that whatever the creature wanted him for was probably really bad. But to his great confusion, a feeling in Dean's gut was convinced that this so-called angel was on Dean's side and would never hurt him.

<Perhaps a show of good faith will help prove to you that angels are righteous beings completely different from what you hunt.> the being told him after a moment's consideration. That was not what he was expecting. Dean was about to tell it that he didn't want anything from it, but didn't get the chance. The white light suddenly surged all around him.

When the light receded, Dean had been transported somewhere else. Standing right in front of him was a very startled Sam. Unfortunately Sam happened to be standing in the middle of a vampire nest. He had just chopped off two of the vampire's heads, but there were half a dozen still undead and kicking. However Sam was so started by the sudden appearance of his formerly dead brother that he momentarily forgot about the other vampires.

"Sammy behind you!" Dean shouted in warning as one of the vampires was about to stab Sam in the back.

A sudden burst of bright white light filled the room. Dean shut his eyes. The vampires screamed as they died. Then there was total silence. Dean opened his eyes slowly, taking in the sight of all of the vampires lying on the ground dead with their eyes burned out. He looked up at Sam and was relieved to see that Sam was safe and without a scratch. Cas had done this. Cas had just saved Sam's life, and taken out a whole nest of vampires in the blink of an eye to do so. Dean swallowed.

Both brothers were too stunned to move for a second. Then Sam moved with lightning fast reflexes to grab his gun. Dean winced at the realization that Sam didn't believe that this was really him.

<Did I do wrong? I thought that you would want to see each other, since I heard you were close.>

With those words, Sam instantly covered his ears like he was in serious pain.

"What the hell are you doing to Sam?" Dean yelled in horror.

<Most humans cannot listen to my True Voice.>

"Then stop talking!" Dean demanded.

<I will be back.>

Just like that, Dean knew that the being was gone. Dean had surprisingly mixed feelings about that, but he didn't have time to dwell on that now. Sam was hurt, and that took priority over everything.

"Sammy!  Are you okay?" Dean asked, rushing to Sam's side. Sam starred at him with a mixture of disbelief, skepticism, hope, and longing.

"Dean?" Sam asked incredulously.

"It's me, Sammy. It's really me," Dean assured him. The next moment, Dean had his arms full of sasquatch. Dean hugged his brother back tightly as hot wet tears started landing on Dean's back. Dean was probably tearing up a bit too. He thought that he'd never be able to see Sam again. Dean wished he would never have to let go of Sam ever again.

"What? No silver knives or holy water?" Dean asked half-jokingly as he tried to choke back his tears. Sam scoffed, and Dean could just picture the eye roll that Sam was probably giving him.

"Dean, no monster would ever mother hen me the way you do," Sam replied.

"Shut up, bitch," Dean replied.

"Jerk," Sam retorted. Both brothers tightened the hug even more for a moment before eventually pulling back.

"I take it this wasn't you?" Dean asked. Between how shocked Sam was and the fact that the being that had rescued Dean couldn't even talk to Sam, it was looking a lot less likely that Sam had done something stupid like sell his soul to bust Dean out.

"No – what was that?" Sam asked. Dean hesitated for a moment before answering.

"It claimed that it was an angel," Dean said quietly.

"An angel? An honest to God angel?" Sam repeated dumbfoundly. "Do you believe it?" The hopeful puppy-dog-eyes were back in full force. Sam was always so eager to believe in angels, but it wasn't so easy for Dean. Dean had believed his father when he told him that every supernatural creature was evil. After their mom had been killed, and all of the (sometimes literal) Hell they had endured, it was hard to believe that there could also be good supernatural beings out there.

"I don't know, Sam," Dean honestly told him. As far as he'd ever known, angels didn't exist. Not a single hunter had ever come across one. But Cas had claimed to be one of the good guys, and he had done nothing but help so far. More than that, Cas had just saved Sam's life! What kind of monster would resurrect Dean, only to reunite him with his brother and then just leave? What else could even have the juice to do all of this? Dean was in way over his head on this one.

"Maybe it heard my prayers," Sam whispered reverently, but Dean could hear the pain behind Sam's words that betrayed just how broken Sam had been after Dean died.

"I don't know Sammy, Cas didn't say," Dean replied.

"Cas? You actually spoke to the angel?" Sam asked incredulously. Well at least Sam was now distracted from his painful memories. Geek boy was back. Dean rolled his eyes good naturedly.

"Yeah Cas- um, Castiel talked to me. But his voice seemed to hurt you, and he said something about how most people couldn't hear his True Voice," Dean explained, a tenderness creeping into his voice without him realizing it. Whoever Cas was, he seemed to have a lot of heart. Sam looked disappointed that he couldn't talk to the angel too, but shook it off pretty quickly.

"The important thing is that you are back," Sam replied, pulling Dean into a tight hug again.

 

* * *

 

They weren't far out from Bobby's house, so they headed there. Along the way, Dean asked Sam a few questions about what had happened since he'd been gone. It was a shock to find out that only three months had passed by topside. Sam was reluctant to go into too many details about those months, and Dean didn't press too much since it was clear Sam was still in a lot of pain over everything that happened, but he explained the general gist of what happened. Ruby was presumed dead, Sam and Bobby were hunting down Lilith together, and iPod jacks had ABSOLUTELY NO BUSINESS EVER BEING IN BABY.

Dean insisted that Sam call Bobby before they arrived and give the old hunter a heads up so he wouldn't be met with silver bullets when they got there. Bobby was a lot less likely to believe in an angel rescue than Sam. Sure enough, Dean had to pass a bunch of tests before he could even get through the front door. But after Dean finally passed all the tests, Bobby pulled him into a tight hug (and the old hunter's eyes were definitely threatening to tear up).

"So, uh, seen anything in the lore about angels?" Dean asked, trying not to think about all of the empty liquor bottles lying all over the house. Bobby had clearly taken Dean's death very hard too.

"Well you're the only hunter in living memory that's ever seen an angel. Far as I can tell, that's the only thing that could have airlifted your ass out of the hot box," Bobby told him, showing an illustration in a book of a very human-with-wings looking angel. Whoever drew this had clearly never seen anyone like Cas.

"So what? Does this mean there's a God? I'm not sure I'm buying it," Dean asked.

"At this point, Vegas money is on yeah," Bobby replied.

"Dean – this is good news. This isn't just another round of demon crap. You were saved by one of the good guys! Now I know you're not all choirboy about this stuff, but this is becoming less and less about faith and more and more about proof," Sam chimed in.

"Proof that there's a God out there that actually gives a crap about me personally? I'm sorry, but I'm not buying it. I don't understand why God or any of his angels would give a crap about me," Dean replied.

"Dean...," Sam began.

"I mean, I've saved some people, okay? I figured that made up for the stealing and the ditching chicks. But why do I deserve to get saved? I'm just a regular guy," Dean protested.

"Apparently, you're a regular guy that's important to the man upstairs," Sam replied.

"Well, that creeps me out. I mean, I don't like getting singled out at birthday parties, much less by... God," Dean admitted.

"Okay, well, too bad, Dean, because I think he wants you to strap on your party hat," Sam told him.

"Fine. What do we know about angels?" Dean reluctantly grumbled.

 

* * *

 

Zachariah was royally pissed. Somehow Castiel had gotten separated from the rest of the garrison, and as luck would have it, Castiel had saved the Righteous Man ahead of schedule. After all Zachariah's careful planning to make sure the angels took a route through Hell that would prevent them from rescuing Dean on time, and one insignificant little seraph had accidentally ruined everything! Dean hadn't broken the First Seal yet, so now they had to start all over.

Rather than wait many more generations for the next set of perfect vessels to be born, the easiest solution would be to send Dean back to Hell – and make sure he stayed long enough to break this time. But Zachariah would have to be sneaky about getting Dean back to Hell. If any of the lower ranks caught wind of the real master plan, he might have a mutiny on his hands. No, instead he'd have to outsource the task of murdering Dean to someone who wouldn't be traced back to him....


	2. Chapter 2

Dean was mentally exhausted that night, but he was having a hard time actually falling asleep. After drinking more whiskey then he remembered having to drink before (some of his topside memories were a bit hazy after all), Dean eventually fell into a state of semi consciousness. It wasn't the bliss of unconsciousness that he'd been hoping for, but at least the alcohol was enough to keep the Hell memories away. He'd told Sam and Bobby that he couldn't even remember Hell, and maybe if he said it enough times he'd convince himself of that lie too.

He wasn't sure how long he laid there in that half asleep state, but as he started drifting back to full consciousness, Dean felt strangely warm and cocooned. It was actually really nice. But when Dean remembered that he hadn't crawled under the blankets last night, and therefore shouldn't feel cocooned now, he awoke with a start.

Something was wrapped around him, and it wasn't blankets.

Dean tugged at whatever it was wrapped around him, and was even more started to discover that doing so actually hurt. What the hell? It felt like Dean had tried to yank one of his own arms out of its socket, but last time Dean checked, he didn't have any fluffy arms. Whatever this was, it was softer than silk, fluffier than a pillow, semi-transparent, and it glowed softly with a shimmery iridescent green. If Dean hadn't been so freaked out, he probably would have felt spellbound by the graceful way the green light seemed to dance around. It practically looked like whatever was smothering him was made of pure energy.

Dean started trying more carefully to untangle himself. Yep, whatever was wrapped around him was definitely attached to his body, and he could feel it when he touched them. After a moment of fumbling, Dean managed to un-cocoon himself. The two new fluffy appendages were attached to his back. Wings. Dean had wings. What the hell?

"Dean? You okay in there?" Sam called through the bedroom door. The noise Dean had made while fumbling around must have alerted Sam. Fortunately Sam had learned (the hard way) long ago to never just barge in when Dean was making strange noises in the bedroom.

"I'm fine Sammy," Dean lied, hopefully convincingly. He was having a hard time keeping his voice normal when he was majorly freaking out here.

"Eggs and coffee will be ready in five," Sam replied. Dean breathed a small sigh of relief when the sasquatch thundered back down the stairs. However, now he had something else to worry about.

Dean may have passed all the tests Bobby threw at him yesterday, but he probably couldn't do so again now. Humans didn't have wings. Was this some kind of residue from his time in Hell? (Not that they even remotely resembled anything in Hell – rather the opposite – but they were very clearly supernatural and not human.) They reminded him of Cas' wings, but Dean quickly dismissed that thought. There was no way that someone as tainted as Dean could ever have anything in common with an angel.

Would Bobby take one look at him and reach for the shotgun? Would they still believe that Dean was really Dean, or would they think he was just some new creature that tricked them? Dean couldn't bear the thought of how devastated Sam would be if he thought Dean had never come back from Hell after all.

'Gone on angel business, will call when I can' Dean scrawled on a scrap of paper. Then Dean climbed out the window. Well, he tried to climb out the window anyway. The wings were being anything but cooperative. They were too big to fit through the window without trying to fold them up, but unlike his normal limbs the wings refused to do what he wanted them to do. Then when he tried to manhandle them into submission, the damn things started flapping everywhere. They banged into a lot of things (which fucking hurt!) and made a lot of noise.

"Dean!" Sam shouted, and Dean could hear both Sam and Bobby running up the stairs, probably with shotguns in toe to gank whatever they thought was attacking Dean. Shit. Dean was stuck halfway out the window, and in a few seconds Sam and Bobby were going to break down the door and discover that Dean was the monster they'd come up here to gank. All because Dean's new wings couldn't just freakin' go away!

Just as the bedroom door was opening, Dean suddenly felt his new wings suck themselves back into his back like they'd never even been there in the first place. The sudden loss of the wings threw Dean off balance and he face planted on the floor, with one of his legs still hanging halfway out the window. And no, Dean was never going to ever admit to the unmanly yelp he made from the surprise and pain of the awkward position he found himself in.

"What the hell?" Sam asked when he surveyed the room with his shotgun raised, clearly expecting a monster, and only finding Dean in the weirdest position he'd ever been in. Dean blinked back up at them, trying to think of one of his usual quick witted retorts, but his brain seemed to be short circuiting right now. He was at a complete loss at how to explain this.

"Uh, you said something about breakfast?" Dean asked hopefully as he got back on his feet.

"Clean your room first ya idjit. You made so much noise trashing the place that ye damn well nearly gave me a heart attack thinkin' something else had come after ya," Bobby scowled. But Dean knew Bobby well enough to hear the worry in Bobby's voice caused by Dean not acting normal. That same worry and confusion was written all over Sam's face too.

"Nobody here but me. I'll be down in a minute," Dean replied, not quite looking them in the eyes. He could still feel their suspicious eyes boring holes into him for another few seconds before they went back to the kitchen.

Bobby hadn't been exaggerating when he'd said the room was trashed. Dean's wings must have been pretty strong because he'd overturned a full bookcase and his night stand. Fortunately the stupid note Dean had scrawled had been blown off of his bed, later getting buried under books before Sam or Bobby could see it. The lamp wasn't salvageable, so Dean got a broom and dustpan to sweep up all the broken glass everywhere. He accidentally stepped on a piece of glass he didn't see, but fortunately it didn't break his skin. It took a while to get everything back in place, especially the many shelves of books that had to be refiled under Bobby's special system.

Meanwhile Dean was trying really hard not to freak out. What the hell had just happened to him? Was this some kind of crazy post-Hell side effect? Had he somehow popped out of Hell wrong? Or maybe this had just been some kind of one-time fluke from leftover angel mojo. The wings were gone now. Maybe for once in his life he'd be lucky enough to have them stay gone.

"Do you think Dean lied about not remembering Hell?" Sam whispered, which Dean did not want to hear – nor should he have been able to hear since Sam and Bobby were in the kitchen and Dean was still upstairs. Fan freakin' tastic. As if the wings weren't enough he had to have super hearing too. Well at least he could currently fit through the window. But the best resources he knew of that might be able to help him were in Bobby's library, so Dean decided to stick around and hope he didn't do anything freaky in front of anyone else.

"I wouldn't put it past Dean to lie about it if he did remember. If that was PTSD..." Bobby whispered back, and okay Dean needed to put a stop to their psychological analysis of him. He probably did have some PTSD, but the topic was not up for discussion – he was just going to bury it down and carry on like he always did. Dean tromped down the stairs very loudly and started shoveling scrambled eggs in his mouth like he hadn't eaten in a week. Sam and Bobby went silent as soon as he entered the room, just as he had hoped.

The lights flickered.

Bobby and Sam both lunged for their shotguns just as the front door flew open and a figure walked in.

"Wait! Wait! It's just Cas!" Dean shouted, throwing himself in between the guns and the now trench coat clad angel. He had no idea if guns could hurt an angel, but he wasn't about to let them test that on Cas. A few sparks were still flying from the exploding lightbulbs, but Cas looked completely casual about the effect he was having on the room.

"Hello Dean," Cas greeted, and wow if that deep voice wasn't just as impressive as Cas' True Voice. Dean found himself staring with his mouth agape at the nerdy looking, but surprisingly hot, angel before him. Those vivid blue eyes alone...

"Cas? As in the angel who saved you from Hell?" Sam asked, lowering his shotgun and staring at Cas in awe. "I thought you said he was a giant made of light?" Dean picked up on the unspoken question of how had he recognized Cas in this new form, but didn't think the answer of 'he feels like Cas' would win him any points.

"This? This is a vessel," Cas replied, looking down at his vessel like it was a strange and alien thing.

"Hold up – how is you ridin' around in someone's meat suit any different from what demons do?" Bobby cut in. It was a fair point, but Dean still glared at the tone Bobby was taking with Cas.

"He is a devote man. He actually prayed for this," Cas replied. Dean raised an eyebrow at why anyone would pray to become some angel's prom dress.

"What, you gave the poor smuck some display of angel powers and he just invited you right in?" Bobby asked.

"I explained the importance of our mission, and he consented," Cas explained simply. Dean put his hand in front of Bobby to keep him from continuing to argue.

"And why would an angel rescue me from Hell?" Dean asked.

"Because God commanded it. We have work for you," Cas told him, staring deep into Dean's eyes and rendering him speechless for a moment. Sam and Bobby didn't have any snappy comebacks to that one either.

"G-God? What the h-why would God want with me?" Dean stammered.

"I have been told that your time in Hell was no accident. Events were manipulated by the forces of Hell for some nefarious purposes. My garrison was sent to retrieve you in order to disrupt Lilith's scheme. Now that you have been successfully returned to the mortal plane, my orders are to assist you in capturing Lilith," Cas explained. Dean's head spun. Why would both Heaven and Hell be fighting over someone as insignificant as him?

"Capture Lilith? No, we're trying to kill her! She's a monster. She murdered Dean! She...," Sam protested, his voice cracking slightly from the pain he'd gone through while Dean was gone.

"My orders are to capture her alive. My superiors likely want to interrogate her before killing her," Cas replied curtly as if the idea of disobeying these orders was unthinkable. Sam looked like he still wanted to protest, but Dean cut him off.

"Sam – I'm okay now. I'm alive again. So this isn't about vengeance. The angels will give Lilith justice," Dean reminded Sam.

"You seem awfully quick to trust beings that you didn't even believe existed before," Bobby mentioned pointedly, still giving Cas suspicious glances. Normally Dean would be the first to agree with Bobby against trusting a supernatural being. But there was something different about Cas. Dean's gut told him that Cas' intentions were genuine.

"Cas saved me! Cas saved Sam!" Dean protested.

"From the way I hear it, you were saved because he needs you for something," Bobby retorted.

"We do have need of Dean's services, but I assure you that I mean him no harm," Cas assured them, not seeming to be offended by Bobby's mistrust. Bobby still looked doubtful, but Sam seemed much more predisposed to believe an angel. Sam turned to Cas with some of the biggest puppy-dog-eyes that Dean had ever seen (and that was saying something since he'd been the one to raise Sam).

"Can you help Dean? Since he got back from Hell, he...," Sam pleaded. Dean was suddenly reminded of the whole mysterious wing-incident this morning. He groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose. Maybe Cas could help him figure it out, but Dean didn't want to admit what had really happened to his brother and Bobby. He didn't want them to know that he'd come back from Hell as some sort of freak. Not that having them attributing his behavior to PTSD was much better, but the hunter version of self-medicating for that was a lot more numbingly pleasant than silver bullets.

"I cannot remove painful memories without harming Dean, but I've heard that over time human memories like that fade...," Cas replied, sounding surprisingly remorseful that he couldn't take Dean's pain away. If that didn't convince everyone that Cas was on their side, Dean wasn't sure what would. Dean was torn between feeling touched by the concern, and pissed that Cas had spilled the beans.

"So you DO remember Hell!" Sam rounded on Dean, surely eager to try to get Dean to talk about his feelings, which was the last thing Dean wanted to do.

"Hey can I talk to you for a second?" Dean asked Cas.

The next thing he knew, Cas had put two fingers on Dean's forehead and the world spun away. Suddenly he and Cas were standing alone in the middle of a forest far away from Bobby's house.

"W-what...?" Dean sputtered.

"Did you not wish to talk privately?" Cas asked, seemingly puzzled by why Dean might object by being spontaneously flown to the middle of nowhere. But Dean recovered from the surprise quickly.

"Well, yeah, okay. Um, I seem to be experiencing some strange physical side effects," Dean began. Cas tilted his head in confusion as he studied Dean. (It was in no way adorable because Dean didn't call anything adorable!)

"You seem to be in perfect physical health," Cas reported. (Did he just use angel mojo to scope Dean out?)

"Now, maybe, but earlier I had super hearing for a while, and well, uh, wings," Dean admitted, still having trouble believing that all of that had really happened.

"What about your wings?" Cas asked. Dean blinked.

"As in, I had wings!" Dean blurted out, not understanding why Cas wasn't acting like this was a problem.

"I don't understand your concern. Were they not reconstructed correctly? Perhaps if I may examine your wings...," Cas replied.

"R-reconstructed? Humans don't have wings!" Dean exclaimed, hardly believing what he was hearing. Dean had ended up with wings because an angel had flunked human biology 101. Fan freakin' tastic. To top it off, Cas was still acting more confused than surprised or apologetic.

"But your soul has wing buds! I assumed... well, I suppose the transfer could have given your soul that attribute...," Cas replied, continuing to examine Dean like he was a puzzle and getting right up in his personal space. Dean tried to take a step back but Cas didn't get the hint and just came closer again.

"Wing buds? Transfer?" Dean asked.

"Angelic Grace has wing buds through which our wings can be manifested. When I raised you from Perdition, your soul clung to me tighter than anticipated. I suspect it came from how close you were to breaking, and your desperation to be saved. As a result our energies bonded and influenced each other on a quantum level," Cas explained. Dean's head spun as he tried to wrap his head around this.

"So I'm part-angel now? Is it permanent?" Dean asked, trying to take some deep breaths.

"I suspect so. It is beyond my power to modify souls or Grace. Your ability to manifest wings comes from your soul's wing buds. I merely helped align your energies so your wings would manifest in the traditionally preferred location," Cas explained. That explanation was a bit TMI though because now Dean was getting mental images of wings popping out of random body parts. Well at least if he was stuck with wings they were on his back.

"But people won't see them, will they?" Dean asked.

"If you have them manifested then humans, angels, and other beings will all be able to see them," Cas replied.

"Then how do I keep them from manifesting?" Dean asked.

"They should respond to your desire to have them manifested or hidden," Cas told him.

"But they just showed up by themselves this morning!" Dean protested.

"Some part of you must have wanted them there," Cas countered. Dean shook his head to try to banish the memories of how comforting it had been to be cocooned in his wings like that.

"But...," Dean tried to argue.

"You don't think you deserve to feel comfort?" Cas asked in surprise, and Dean really needed to tell the dude to lay off the mind reading, but right now he couldn't even meet Cas' eyes. "Dean – you deserved to be saved, and you deserve to enjoy what few comforts your life has given you..."

"I was about to break! If you hadn't come when you did...," Dean protested.

"Even if you had broken, it wouldn't have been your fault. I've never heard of any other human lasting as long under a master torturer like Alastair," Cas insisted with such certainty that Dean really wanted to believe him. "But I am glad that I got separated from the rest of my garrison so that I could find you in time and spare you that pain."

"Yeah, thanks for that," Dean told him, the words seeming so hollow and inadequate for just how grateful he really was, but Dean had always sucked at words. "What happened to the rest of your garrison?"

"They received word that you have been saved, and they are currently fighting their way back out of Hell. We chose our route into Hell based on schematics that showed an old tunnel to have fallen into ruin from disuse. However the demons anticipated our plan and ambushed us. Had I not accidentally fallen through a weakened spot in the tunnel, it would have taken us many more years to reach you. The new tunnel I found was clearly not well known even by demons. I only came across one demon sneaking through it, and I easily killed her before she could alert anyone to my presence. Since I sent word of what I learned about Hell's geography from the experience, and it should help my brothers and sisters return more quickly," Castiel explained. Dean shuddered and tried not to think too much about the war fought on his behalf, or how very easily it could have turned out very differently. There was no use dwelling on it.

"So after they get back they'll help us hunt down Lilith?" Dean asked.

"Very likely, if we haven't already captured her first. Would you like to rejoin your family now?" Cas offered, raising two fingers, but this time waiting for Dean's response before pressing them to Dean's forehead.

"Can you not tell Sam and Bobby about the wings?" Dean asked.

"Why?" Cas asked.

"I'm not ready for them to know. I guess I get now why Sam hid his visions from me at first, and then complained later that I was looking at him differently. I just got Sam back, and I don't want him to look at me like I'm a freak," Dean confessed. He vaguely registered that he was rarely this open and honest with Sam, let alone someone he just met. Yet Cas had a strange way of getting Dean to spill his guts. It didn't really feel like he'd just met Cas either – this felt like what Dean imagined talking to an old friend would feel like (not that he had many of those). Perhaps it was the weird soul bonding thing, or the fact that Cas was completely nonjudgmental throughout this whole conversation.

"Based on the briefing I was given about Sam, I doubt that he will consider himself in a position to judge you, especially considering what he is. But Dean – it is important to remember that on some level your soul wanted this for you. You will only hurt yourself if you try to ignore it. Neglecting your soul will also increase the likelihood of your soul forcibly manifesting your wings against your conscious will," Cas told him. Well shit – Dean's usual coping mechanisms of ignoring his issues and hoping they went away wasn't going to work in this case.

"So how do I do this? And how do I keep them from flapping uncontrollably all over the place when they are out?" Dean grumbled reluctantly. But wing lessons now was better than random wing appearances in public later.

"First, allow yourself to have your wings out. Your soul wants to manifest your wings – let it," Cas instructed. Dean felt like making some smart-alec comment about how would Cas know what his soul wants, but he bit his tongue.

After spending so many years as a disembodied soul, connecting to his soul wasn't particularly difficult for Dean. His soul didn't have all of the filters his conscious mind did, so the longing for wings came through quite clearly. The two parts of himself felt very disjointed. Even though Dean's conscious mind still had its reservations, he tried to give his soul permission to do what it wanted.

Nothing happened.

Dean strained, trying to visualize those accursed wings coming out of his back again, and ordering them to show up.

"You are too tense. This isn't something you can force," Cas told him. "What were you doing the last time you manifested them?"

"Sleeping, or trying to anyways," Dean replied with a sigh.

"Ah, when your conscious mind is at rest. Next time that happens, let yourself adjust and get familiar with them," Cas suggested. Dean sighed.

"I can't – there's no way I can leave them out without Sam and Bobby finding out," Dean protested.

"Dean," Cas said simply, giving Dean a look that made Dean hang his head.

"Alright, alright – I'll tell them," Dean groaned.


	3. Chapter 3

To their credit, Sam and Bobby didn't jump too badly when Dean and Cas suddenly appeared out of thin air back at Bobby's house.  Still, Dean still wished he could have gotten a picture of their reactions.  He'd be laughing for weeks at how Sam had almost fallen out of his chair.

"While you two idjits were fooling around, we caught a case," Bobby announced, looking like he was still trying to still his heart.

"That was fast," Dean commented, surprised because he hadn't thought that he and Cas had been gone that long.  But at least getting back into hunting would help him find the sense of normal that his life so badly needed right now.

"Yeah so get this – Henriksen called," Sam exclaimed.

"Henriksen?  As in Victor Henriksen, the FBI guy that took forever to finally understand that we weren't the bad guys?  Wow, I didn't expect him to ever actually use our number," Dean replied, shaking his head in disbelief.

"Same here, but apparently he has been freelancing a little with really weird cases that get reported to the FBI, but aren't taken up by the FBI," Sam explained.

"He sure that none of the Feds are watching the area?  I didn't get sprung from the hot box just to have the wrong people recognize us and figure out we're still alive," Dean asked.

"He said he already tried to get other agents on the case and nobody would help him.  He's the only agent who believes that this is a real case, and it's our kind of thing, so I told him we'd head down to Georgia and take a look," Sam told him.

"While you boys are gone, I'll keep looking for a lead on Lilith," Bobby offered.

"Dean," Cas reminded him, a whole sentence of meaning packed into that one word and a significant look.  Dean sighed.

"Um, Cas and I discovered a bit of a side effect to my resurrection," Dean began.  "There was some sort of unexpected energy transfer between us, and the bottom line is that I've got some weird angel crap going on."

"What kind of angel stuff?" Sam asked with a frown.

"Well, I uh, woke up with wings this morning," Dean explained with a wince, but when neither Sam nor Bobby reached for silver, he relaxed a tiny bit as he continued.  "They're gone now, but Cas thinks they're a permanent part of me now, and until we figure things out my soul might do crazy stuff randomly."

"So, what, you're part-angel now?" Sam asked with awe.  "Can I see them?"

"Since Dean is still mostly human, it should be safe for you to see them, but he has yet to learn how to manifest them at will," Cas replied.

"This tie into whatever Heaven wants him for?" Bobby asked warily.

"No, my superiors will be angry when they find out.  To my knowledge, this should not have a negative impact on Dean's ability to hunt down and capture Lilith as planned.  But forming such a Profound Bond with a human would be considered an act of rebellion had it been intentional.  But given the circumstances, I most likely will not be killed," Cas explained, hanging his head. 

"Woah wait – kill you?" Dean asked in alarm.  Even though he'd really just met Cas, he realized that he'd be devastated if anything happened to him.  Perhaps it was the strange bond or whatever, but Dean already felt like Cas was part of him in a way he didn't understand yet.  Dean would never forgive himself if Cas was killed just because Dean had clung too tight and somehow bonded to the angel.

"Most likely not," Cas repeated as if the matter was not of great importance.  "In any case, you should not feel so guilty.  You did nothing wrong.  I am even more certain now that you deserved to be saved, and I'm grateful that I was able to be of service to you regardless of the consequences."  Deep orbs of vivid blue were pleading with Dean to understand and believe.  Dean swallowed and licked his lips nervously, but couldn't tear his eyes away from Cas' eyes.  Damn – how could he even respond to that?  Luckily he didn't have to because Bobby cleared his throat.

"Then is this really the best time for you to be going out on a hunt?  Why not let Sam meet up with Henriksen while you help me research," Bobby suggested.  Dean tried not to wince with just how much he didn't want to be cooped up doing research.

"Bobby...," Dean started to protest, but Bobby was giving him that it'd-be-for-your-own-damn-good look.  Fortunately Cas, possibly sensing Dean's distress, decided to speak up.

"It's been thirty years since Dean last hunted.  It'd be prudent for him to start with a few small cases before going after Lilith," Cas proclaimed.

"Thirty years?" Sam repeated, pulling out some of the most heartbroken puppy dog eyes that Dean had ever seen.  While Dean wasn't thrilled that Cas had once again just revealed more than Dean wanted anyone else to know, he was relieved that Bobby reluctantly agreed to let him go on the hunt.

* * *

Dean vetoed Cas' suggestion for him to fly them there.  His soul wanted to drive his Baby, and Cas didn't want to deny Dean's soul, right?  It felt awesome to be on the open road heading towards a case again.

Dean cranked up the Zeppelin, and sang along, feeling the music that he'd almost forgotten coming back to him like it was yesterday.  When he discovered that Cas was not familiar with any of the greatest musicians of all time, Dean vowed to introduce the angel to every single one of classic rock's greatest hits.  The long drive ahead of them was a perfect opportunity to go through lots of Dean’s tapes.

Somewhere in Minnesota, Dean suddenly hit the brakes.  He backed the car up, and his eyes practically popped out of his head at what he was seeing:

> "Free Pie!*  Today only while supplies last!
> 
> *If you can finish one of our giant homemade pies in half an hour, you eat free!"

"Seriously Dean?  We've still got a long way to drive...," Sam protested.

"We've got to eat sometime Sammy," Dean replied as he turned down the side road to the lodge the map on the sign had indicated.  His mouth was watering as they pulled up to a quaint old fashioned log cabin surrounded by giant pine trees.  The event had attracted quite a crowd, but there was still a table open for them.

"What can I get for you today?" the waiter asked.

"I'll take your free pie!" Dean replied eagerly.

"Just a salad for me, thanks," Sam added with an exaggerated eye roll towards Dean.

"How are we related?  But Cas will have a pie too, right?" Dean retorted, looking at Cas hopefully.

"No, I don't require any sustenance," Cas replied simply, and the waiter left before Dean could protest.

"Dude – its pie!  Pie!" Dean whined, but Cas didn't seem to get why this was so important to Dean.  Clearly Dean had his work cut out for him when it came to introducing Cas to all the awesome things humans had made. 

The waiter was back very quickly, and Dean was practically bouncing in his seat as the giant pie arrived.  The sign hadn't exaggerated.  This was by far the largest apple pie that Dean had ever seen – it looked like it was the size of a medium pizza.  But the smell was completely Heavenly, and there was no way that Dean wasn't going to devour every last crumb.

The first bite was even better than Dean had anticipated, and Dean was soon shoveling the pie in with heartfelt enthusiasm, groans of pleasure escaping him.  This was one of the most perfect pies that Dean had ever tasted.  Memories of his mom’s homemade apple pies flooded his mind with every bite.  The top crust was made of melt-in-your-mouth crust crumbles just the way Dean liked it, and the apples were complimented with a perfect blend of seasonings that enhanced their natural flavor without overpowering the apples.

How could Sammy pass up such perfection?  Dean tried to get Sam to change his mind, not bothering to finish chewing and swallowing before talking.  But Sam whipped out a book and pretended to ignore Dean.  Cas however seemed completely fascinated by Dean's ability to make the pie disappear so fast.  Dean smirked as he licked the last traces of pie off his fingers, noting with satisfaction at how his actions made Cas swallow.

"Congratulations – 24 minutes and 16 seconds is our new record!" the waiter told him.  Oh yeah, delicious free pie was totally worth the enormous stomachache that Dean now had.  It was hard to stand up afterwards, and Dean kind of wanted to pass out in the backseat and let Sam drive now, but it was totally worth it.

"I'm not sure humans were meant to imbibe such vast quantities of sustenance at one time.  I can...," Cas offered, reaching out towards Dean's forehead with two fingers.

"No way!  You are not going to angel mojo my pie away!" Dean protested.  Cas blinked in confusion, doing the head tilt thing again, but he respected Dean's wishes.

"What the...?" Sam suddenly exclaimed, and Dean quickly turned to where Sam was looking.

A giant blue ox had suddenly crashed through the trees.  The creature was nearly the size of a two-story building, and it turned its angry glowing red eyes right towards them.

"That should not exist...," Cas commented, but Sam and Dean pulled him towards the Impala.

"You think the guns in the trunk will work?" Sam asked as they ran.  Dean was struggling to keep up with his overfilled belly and food-coma sleepiness weighing him down.  The ox was scraping its hooves on the ground, acting like it was about to charge them like a bull.  Did oxen do that?  Oh why had all the close parking spots been full when they arrived?  The Impala was all the way on the other side of the clearing.

"Dunno... h-hope... s-so...," Dean replied, suddenly falling to his knees as he felt his consciousness start to fade away.  Large meal or not, there was no way that he shouldn't be wide awake with adrenaline right now.  Something was wrong with him.  Of course that was when the giant blue ox decided to charge right at them.  Dean tried to fight to stay conscious, but he couldn't get back to his feet.  They were going to get trampled!

Fingers touched his forehead, and with the sound of wings flapping, Dean was now sitting at the edge of the trees with Sam and Cas.  The ox trampled over the spot where the three of them had been a few seconds ago, and then proceeded to smash through some of the other cars.  Screams came from the log cabin as the other diners became aware of the giant blue ox wreaking havoc outside.

"Stay here – I'll handle this," Cas told them.  A silver blade slipped into his hand, but that pig-sticker looked tiny compared to the rampaging ox.

Dean tried to protest, fearing for Cas' safety, but his body was not cooperating.  It was taking all the willpower he had just to keep his eyes open.  A fierce battle was waging right in front of him, and Dean kept missing parts of it because sleep kept threatening to overtake him.  Dean didn't even jump when there was suddenly a loud crack right behind him.

"Dean!" Sam shouted as he tried to tackle Dean out of the way of a giant pine tree that was falling towards them.  But either Dean was even more out of it than he thought, or the pine tree abruptly changed directions as it was falling so it could still crush him and Sam.

There was the sound of wing beats again, and Cas returned just in the nick of time to catch the tree and prevent it from making Winchester pancakes.  Who knew that a nerdy little guy in a trench coat could lift such a huge tree?  But Cas did more than catch the tree – he threw it across the clearing and beaned the ox square on the nose.  The ox fell over, either dead or unconscious.  A few seconds later the ox evaporated like it had never really been there in the first place.

"Holy shit!  I don't think the demons are happy that Dean was sprung from Hell," Sam gaped.

"Demons don't have the power to create something like that.  This is something else we're dealing with," Cas replied.

"What'd they do to Dean?  Has he been drugged?" Sam asked.  Cas knelt down next to Dean and started sniffing him.  Normally Dean would make some kind of crack at this point, but the words wouldn't come.  Now that the adrenaline was fading away, it was getting even harder to stay awake.

"Yes – there is a difficult-to-detect sedative in his system.  He'd be in a coma by now if not for the part of my Grace that he imbibed," Cas reported.  Two fingers touched Dean's forehead, warmth flooded through his body, and Dean's mind was suddenly completely clear.  Unfortunately his stomach was now also painfully empty.  He'd lost all of his precious pie after all.

"Thanks," Dean told him weakly, feeling embarrassed that he hadn't suspected that this could have been a trap.  He was tempted to complain about why Cas’ couldn’t have just removed the sedative and left the pie, but Cas interrupted before he could.

"I can't be certain that whatever creature caused this has left the area.  We should leave and remain alert for the next time it tries to attack," Cas replied, scanning the trees warily.

* * *

The rest of the drive wasn't as much fun since there was now a strict "no more detours" policy.  They didn't stop at any more diners, and Cas insisted on thoroughly inspecting any convenience store food that they bought before he would let them eat it.  The trio did try to stop at a motel for the night a few hours later, but as luck would have it, it was swarming with demons.  On the plus side, Dean’s hunting skills were still on par with how they’d been before his death – maybe even better than they’d been before.  He managed to gank two demons while Cas smited three and Sam got one.  It was the kind of confidence booster Dean needed after how completely useless he’d been at the last battle.

The adrenalin from the fight kept them going long enough to cross a few more state lines before trying again to stop for the night.  They had thought about pushing on to try to make it to Macon, Georgia in one go, but everyone was pretty cranky after so many hours on the road.  At least this time the motel they tried was free of any supernatural creatures.  Cas offered to ward the room for them, and Dean was grateful as he passed out on top of the comforters.

* * *

Dean knew before he even opened his eyes that his wings had come out during his sleep again.  He groaned, but he begrudgingly admitted to himself that they felt nice.  Dean felt more relaxed, comfortable, and at peace with himself than he remembered ever having been before.  His soul was happy, and that was a very freeing sensation.  He could sense Cas nearby watching him.  If anyone else had been watching him like this Dean would find it creepy, but for some reason it felt strangely natural.  This was probably not at all what his mom had pictured when she'd told Dean that 'angels were watching over him' but the spirit of that sentiment was probably here.  Dean wasn't ready to try to label whatever warm emotions he could sense coming from Cas, or any of his own emotions, but it felt right.  Somehow Dean knew that Cas smiled back at him when he thought that.  He could feel Cas smiling at him.  Okay, that was a bit weird, but it didn't feel like a bad thing.

"Dean!" Sam exclaimed in surprise, breaking the mood.  Dean wished the sasquatch had slept longer, but the alarm in Sam's voice made Dean wonder if there was something besides the wings that Sam was reacting to.

Dean reluctantly unfolded the wings that were wrapped around him so he could sit up.  But when he opened his eyes, the room suddenly felt like it was spinning around him.  No, that wasn't it – it was like he was seeing the room from multiple different angles at once.

"Cas?" Dean asked, feeling like his voice was echoing.

"Angels have multiple faces.  Yours came out while you slept," Cas explained.

Multiple faces?  So Dean felt like he was looking in multiple different directions at once because he now had more faces and eyes than he was used to?  Stumbling to the bathroom mirror to see for himself was more of a struggle than he anticipated.  It felt like his different faces were fighting for dominance because it was surprisingly hard to figure out which part of his vision was the forward-facing part.  Then, of course, there were the wings, which were agitated because he was agitated.  Dean was pretty sure he cracked the door frame on the way into the bathroom when one of his wings flapped right as he was trying to go through the doorway.  The stupid wing hurt afterwards too.

Dean gaped in shock as he took in his reflection.  His normal, human face was unchanged.  But then on either side of his head were two semi-transparent other faces that weren't human.  One looked like a coyote's face and the other was a squirrel face.

"Well, I always wanted a dog," Sam joked in an attempt to break the tension.

"Shut up, and it's a coyote not a dog," Dean told him grumpily.  The distinction between a dog and a coyote suddenly felt extremely important to Dean.  Coyotes were noble animals that were incredibly intelligent and cunning… and since when had Dean identified this much with coyotes?  It felt right though, so maybe his soul was on to something here.  All three of his faces scowled at one of them being compared to a mere dog.  Now he knew why his voice sounded like it was echoing – his two other mouths were saying the same thing at the same time.

"Whatever squirrel-boy," Sam teased.

"How do I make them go away?" Dean complained.

"Dean," Cas reminded him.

"I know, but I can't go hunting looking like this either, and we've got a case to solve," Dean replied.  Not to mention it was making his head ache to try to integrate three different perspectives at once.

"I'll pick up some food and bring it back.  Then, after we eat, Cas can help you look more human again," Sam offered in compromise.  Dean sighed but agreed.  He was a bit nervous about Sam going alone right now, but everyone seemed to think that Dean was the target of whoever was out to kill him, so their guardian angel wasn't going to leave Dean's side.

"So, you've got some extra faces too?" Dean asked Cas once they were alone together.

"You've seen my True Form," Cas replied, confused by Dean's question.

"Yeah, well – it was a bit bright and overwhelming at the time," Dean told him, which was a bit of an understatement.

Cas simply nodded and manifested two additional faces with enviable ease.  They glowed more brightly than Dean's extra faces, and they were different animals, but otherwise it didn't feel like Dean and Cas were that different.  Dean wasn’t sure what he’d expected Cas’ other faces to be, possibly some fierce warrior animals that would terrify anyone who saw them on top of a Chrysler-building-sized True Form angel.  But instead, Cas’ other faces were more… quirky choices that seemed to be more reflective of the weird little dude’s personality.  There was a honey bee on one side, and a cat on the other.  Dean found himself smiling when he realized that they really seemed to suit Cas.  It made him feel a little better about having a squirrel face too, since clearly not all angels needed to have fierce warrior faces.

Cas brought his wings out as well, and wow – Dean hadn't really had a chance to fully appreciate them before.  While Dean's wings were an iridescent hunter green, Cas' wings were a majestic iridescent royal blue.  The wings were made of pure energy – Cas’ Grace.  As the energy danced about playfully, the wings shifted about as if they were fluttering in an unseen breeze.  The effect was spellbinding.  Cas’ wings were not only one of the most beautiful things that Dean had ever seen, but he yearned to feel that shimmering Grace against his soul.  It was surprisingly hard to resist the urge to touch.

Dean coughed and crossed his legs awkwardly when he realized that he'd been transfixed by the gorgeous spread of Cas' wings.  Maybe Dean's new form liked Cas' True Form a little too much.  For once in his life he needed to slow down and figure this out.  If Cas realized the effect that he was having on Dean, the bastard gave no indication of it.  Cas just sat there intently studying Dean while fanning his feathers.  Dean bit his lip and tried to think of a conversation starter, but his big brain (big brains?) was having a hard time doing the thinking when Cas was looking like that.

Suddenly Cas put away his extra heads and wings.  The Impala was on its way back to the motel.  The Impala was three blocks away, but with Dean's enhanced hearing he could still hear her approaching.  More time must have passed than Dean realized if Sam was already back with the food.

* * *

"So do I need to feed these heads too?" Dean asked as they sat down to eat.

"You're angelic parts should not require substance – any nourishment passed through them would just be transferred back to your vessel," Cas explained.

Dean tried offering a bite of his burger to his coyote head.  The coyote's point of view was suddenly primary in Dean's mind, and he grinned slyly at the thought of stealing just the meat paddy in the middle of the bun.  Only the realization that his other heads would then get stuck eating the rest of the meatless burger stopped him from following through with that desire.  Still, the coyote head really enjoyed a bite of burger.  Next Dean tried offering a bite to his squirrel head, but the smell of the meat alone made his squirrel side gag.

"Here – try these," Sam offered with a laugh as he tossed Dean a package of nuts.  Dean managed to catch the bag (he was getting the hang of piecing together what all of his eyes were seeing into one coherent picture).

"Really, Sam?" Dean asked.  His coyote head rolled its eyes, but his squirrel part eagerly sniffed at the nuts, so with a sigh from his human mouth he fed some nuts to his squirrel mouth.  They were surprisingly good.

"I knew you were a closet health nut!" Sam teased.

"Shut up, bitch," Dean groaned.  He was never going to live this down.  What part of his crazy soul thought 'Dean Winchester: fierce hunter & cuddly squirrel'?

"Jerk," Sam retorted.  From the confused look on Cas' face, the brothers' familiar banter had not been considered important enough by Heaven to be included in his briefing.  But to Dean, the banter was part of his anchor to normality even when everything else in his life had gone bat shit crazy.  It was comforting.


	4. Chapter 4

Going back to having only one head and four limbs was a lot weirder than it should have been.  This was how Dean had lived his whole life, so why did it now feel like he was missing vital parts of himself?  He could still feel the energy inside himself that was used to manifest his angel parts, but it wasn't the same when he kept them repressed like this, and he itched to let them out again.  But Dean had the equivalent of a college degree in ‘How to Repress Anything & Everything’ so this was nothing he couldn't handle.

"Dean, stop constantly turning your head like that – people are going to think you're paranoid," Sam whispered as they got to where they were going to meet Henriksen.  Dean hadn't even realized that he'd started doing that to compensate for only having two eyes.  He felt strangely blind having such a narrow field of vision, and it wasn't helping that he was still nervous about meeting up with Henriksen again.  Sure, the dude had finally realized that they were the good guys, but that didn't mean his FBI buddies would see it that way if any of them were monitoring Henriksen.  Then of course there was whatever supernatural creature who was hunting Dean to worry about.

"When you learn more control, you will be able to use your other eyes without manifesting your other heads," Cas told him.

"So you are able to see everything like that all the time?" Dean asked.

"Yes, and I am able to monitor the area with other senses as well.  Don't worry Dean – I won't let any harm come to you," Cas assured him.  Dean relaxed, feeling Cas brush against his mind with even more reassurances than he put into words.

"Do your bee eyes see everything like a kaleidoscope?" Dean asked.

"Yes.  It is highly unusual for one of an angel's heads to have multi-facetted eyes, but I like it.  I can better appreciate the beauty of my Father's creations when I can see them through multiple different kinds of perspectives," Cas replied.  Dean was suddenly acutely aware that Cas' bee eyes were right next to him as they walked, and felt his cheeks flush slightly.  Cas' vision was full of a few hundred images of Dean.

"So you're saying that you're special among angels," Dean commented.

"Well that is one of the ways I'm considered a bit strange among angels," Cas replied.

"One of...?" Dean prompted.

"There's Henriksen," Sam interrupted.

Henriksen had arrived at the meeting spot early.  He looked really weird in normal clothes, but his stiff FBI posture didn't really help him blend in.

"Sam, Dean – it’s been awhile.  Thank you for coming.  After everything I did...," Henriksen greeted them.

"Don't sweat it," Sam told him friendly.

"Right.  I'll just cut to the point then.  One of my cousins says her fiancé was kidnapped by giants," Henriksen announced.

"Giants don't exist," Cas stated with certainty.

"Who's your friend?" Henriksen asked, glaring at Cas for essentially calling his cousin a liar, but Cas was unfazed.

"I'm an angel of the Lord," Cas told Henriksen before Dean could stop him.

"Right, and I'm the Easter Bunny," Henriksen retorted.

"No you're not.  All of your cells are 100% human," Cas insisted.

"Is this guy for real?" Henriksen snapped.

"Yes – Cas really is an Angel of the freakin' Lord.  Cas, remind me to teach you about sarcasm later, and don't go around telling everyone we meet that you're an angel," Dean cut in.  Dean realized that Cas’ tie was a bit lose, and reached over to straighten it.

"Why?" Cas asked, eyes narrowed.

"Because most people don't believe in anything supernatural, and even among the few who know the truth, nobody is going to believe in angels.  Just go with me on this," Dean told him.  Cas frowned like he disapproved, and was still confused by Dean's request, but he would oblige.

"Hold on – you're serious?  Angels are real?" Henriksen said incredulously.  Dean couldn't help a small smirk.

"Yes we are, but giants are not," Cas stated.  Great, now Henriksen was back to looking pissed at Cas.  Dean really needed to help Cas work on his people skills.

"Can we talk to your cousin?  It will help if she could explain what she saw.  It could hold clues to what happened," Sam interjected, always the good peacekeeper.  Henriksen deflated a little.

"I convinced her to stop telling everyone else about the giants.  The local authorities were convinced that Shayna lost it when her girlfriend split town.  But Shayna is not crazy and she is no liar.  I managed to convince one of my contacts to follow up with the trail of her fiancé's stolen credit card, even though the charges haven’t been the least bit suspicious or out of the ordinary.  I'll admit that if I didn't know Shayna so well personally, and if you two hadn't opened my eyes to what's really out there, I probably wouldn't have followed up on the magic she talked about.  But as crazy as it sounds, her instructions led right to the beanstalk...," Henriksen explained.

"Are you kidding me?  A freakin' beanstalk?  How would every news outlet in the country not be all over that?" Dean asked.

"Why would a beanstalk be of significance?  I’ve heard many humans cultivate them," Cas asked.

"He's talking giant beanstalks, like in Jack and the Beanstalk?" Dean clarified, only to see that Cas looked completely stumped.  "Okay, we're adding pop culture to the list of things I need to teach you."

"So how come there haven't been any other reports of giants or huge beanstalks reaching up into the clouds?" Sam asked.

"Shayna said the person who gave them the magic beans also gave them a spell that would enable the caster to see the beanstalks.  And no, the spell isn't ingested and contains no hallucinogens.  I was skeptical at first too, but once I saw it for myself I knew I needed to call in the experts.  So will you help me or not?" Henriksen explained.

Well, and the Winchesters were experts on crazy...

 

* * *

 

Since apparently the fiancé's credit cards had been stolen when their car had been broken into at the beanstalk site, Dean reluctantly agreed to leave his Baby safely locked away in Shayna's garage and let Henriksen drive them to the beanstalk.  Shayna was already waiting for them there, mixing up a few bowls of powdered spell ingredients.

However that wasn't what attracted Dean's attention the most when they arrived at the small forest clearing.

"Holy shit!" Dean exclaimed, cranking his head back as far as it would go as he gazed upward.  He was amazed at the sight of the massive beanstalk in front of him, but his stomach was already dropping at the prospect of having to climb that thing.

"It has grown to a rather impressive size," Cas commented.

"Okay I get why the so-called angel can see it without the spell, but how can Dean see it?" Henriksen demanded.  But before Dean could come up with some sort of smart-alec response, he heard the sound of wing beats and Cas was gone.

"Cas!" Dean called, ignoring how Henriksen was gaping at the spot where Cas had been a second ago.  Dean could still sense that Cas was nearby, but couldn't tell where he had gone.

"Did that man just disappear into thin air?  Did the giants somehow get him too?" Shayna asked.

"No!  Cas...," Dean began, but with another flap of wings Cas was back.  Everyone but Dean jumped, but Cas seemed oblivious to the idea that he had done anything out of the ordinary.

"I tried flying to the top of the beanstalk, but the pocket dimension on the other side is protected by some sort of barrier that even I cannot penetrate.  It appears that the only way in is by climbing the beanstalk, which is also protected from supernatural means of entry, but the protection is weaker at the base, which will allow us to enter here," Cas reported.

"How did he...?" Shayna asked.

"The guy eats his Wheaties," Dean replied dismissively.  "So how about you tell us how you and your fiancé got mixed up with giants and beanstalks?"

"Juanita and I just had our engagement party, and a short man with light brown hair approached us at the dessert table near the end of the party and told us that he wanted to bless us with great riches.  He gave us three beans and a piece of paper with instructions.  Juanita and I didn't really believe him at first, but we thought we'd plant the beans anyway just for a laugh.  The beanstalk grew almost instantly.  Juanita loves adventure, and begged me to climb up with her.  But at the top there were giants – just like in the fairy tale.  We tried to escape before they caught us, but one of them grabbed Juanita just before we reached the beanstalk.  I didn't think I could fight off two giants by myself, so I called Vic for help...," Shayna explained.  She was holding it together pretty well, but her eyes betrayed that she was terrified of whatever might be happening to Juanita right now.  Dean tried not to think about the stories of giants grinding people's bones to make their bread.  In his experience, these stories usually didn't have happy endings, but he hoped that this time would be different.

"Shayna – we will do everything we can to get Juanita back to you.  How about you show me how this spell works so we can get started?" Sam told Shayna.  Sam, Shayna, and Henriksen went over to the bowls of powdered spell ingredients while Dean stayed behind because he sensed Cas wanted to talk to him.

"Dean – this is the second time in two days that we've come across something that should not exist.  I have watched life on this planet since the first single-celled organisms formed in the oceans, and I have never before come across blue oxen, humanoids, or beanstalks of these proportions," Cas told him.

"So you think that this might be related to whatever is trying to kill me?" Dean asked.

"That is very probable, yes," Cas replied.  Dean sighed.

"Well even if this is a trap, there is an innocent woman up there who needs our help.  Do you have any idea what kinds of weapons might work against a giant?" Dean asked.

"I have my angel blade, but without knowing what exactly it is that we are facing, I don't know what weapons would be most efficient.  Whatever is behind this must be very powerful to have manifested something like this, so I doubt any of your guns or knives would be of much use," Cas told him.

"Awesome," Dean muttered.

"Yes, I suppose the sight of these creatures would leave most humans quaking with awe," Cas replied.  Dean rolled his eyes, and went to strap on a few choice weapons.  He wasn't going to go up there without any weapons, but he didn't want to weigh himself down too much for the long climb either.  They'd just have to make plans up as they went along like they always did.  He very pointedly tried not to think about just how high he was going to have to climb in just a few minutes.  If this wasn’t a task he needed to be sober for, he definitely would have taken a few shots of whiskey to calm his nerves.

 

* * *

 

Long climb was a major understatement.

The trunk of the beanstalk was as large as a fully grown redwood tree, with thick vines cascading down the sides.  It was hard to tell just how tall the beanstalk was, but it seemed like it was a few miles tall.  Cas could probably tell them down the centimeter just how tall the beanstalk was, but Dean didn't ask because he honestly didn't want to know.  The best way to the top was just to keep focusing on putting one hand in front of the other, and not to think about just how high they were.  Dean thought he might be sick if he thought too much about it.  He hummed Metallica to himself to cool his nerves, and give himself something else to focus on besides the climb.

Shayna was apparently in amazing shape because she was leading the pack, despite how sore she should have already been from just having done this insane climb just two days ago.  Sam was a few body lengths behind Shayna, and Dean was a few feet behind Sam.  Dean knew that he was climbing slower than usual because of his nerves, but he couldn't help double checking every grip before putting his weight on it.  Cas was apparently concerned about how nervous Dean was, because the angel didn't leave Dean's side, even though the nerdy dude probably could have beaten them all to the top if he'd wanted.  Henriksen had fallen behind, his life of too much pencil pushing and not enough fighting monsters catching up to him.  But Henriksen was nothing if not tenacious, and he kept going no matter how heavy his breathing got.  The air was probably a bit thinner up here, but Dean didn't really notice.  Thanks to the gloves everyone had had the foresight to wear, he didn't have blisters yet, but it was probably just a matter of time.

Eventually, the top of the beanstalk started coming into sight instead of just being a vague haze in the distance.  Or, at least Dean hoped that the layer of clouds ahead of them was the top of the beanstalk.  He could see Shayna and Sam shivering from the strong winds.  But other than tightening his grip every time a gust of wind came, Dean didn't really feel that cold despite having mostly just brought the Georgia summer clothes on his back.

Suddenly, the entire beanstalk started shaking rhythmically.

Thump.  Thump.  Thump.

Dean was now very sure that the clouds signified the top of the beanstalk, because he could see the clouds shake from what sounded like a giant walking on top of them.  Everyone froze in place, not daring to make a sound.  But after a few more thuds, everything grew quiet.  Was the giant gone?  Sam must have thought so, because Sam started to carefully climb again...

CRASH!!!

The beanstalk suddenly shook with one tremendous force, and the loud crash sounded like the giant above them had suddenly fallen to the ground.  Dean clung to the vines for dear life as the force of the impact vibrated him up and down by multiple feet with every vibration.

"Deeeaan!" Sam screamed.

Dean opened his eyes just in time to see Sam plummet past him, freefalling a few thousand feet above the Earth.

"SAMMY!" Dean screamed.  Without thinking, Dean leaped after his little brother.

"Dean!" Cas called after him.  Dean sensed Cas try to jump after him, but Cas smacked into the barrier he’d mentioned earlier.  Cas had too much angel mojo to get through the barrier, but Dean was still human enough to pass right through.

Dean had no idea how he was going to survive this one.  He tried to block out the sheer terror that threatened to overwhelm him.  The only thought on his mind was that he had to get to Sammy.  He streamlined his body into a perfect nosedive, and within seconds that felt like an eternity, he somehow managed to catch up to Sam and grab him tight.

Wings.  Dean hadn't managed to manifest them on command before, but there had never been a moment where he wanted wings more than he did right now.  He reached inside, deep within his soul where he could still feel the energy of his wings, and begged them to come out.

Energy rushed out of Dean's back, and he suddenly felt a huge jolt as his wings spread out and put the brakes on their free-fall.  Pain flared through his wings and where they connected to his body, but the important thing was that they now seemed to be gliding instead of falling.  More importantly, Dean had managed to keep Sam firmly in his arms despite the jolt.

Now what?

Dean didn't know the first thing about flying.  Hell, he'd always been terrified of flying.  It was pretty twisted irony that Dean would end up with wings, but right now, despite his terror at the situation, he was very grateful for his wings.  He weighed his options.  He could either keep gliding until he eventually reached the ground (which thankfully their decent had slowed down enough that it would take a long time for them to get to the ground), or he could try to get them back to the beanstalk.  As nervous as Dean was about messing with what his wings were doing, the idea of starting the climb up the beanstalk from the very bottom again was not very appealing.  Besides, the longer they delayed, the worse the chances for finding Juanita alive were.

With a deep breath, Dean tried carefully angling his wings towards the beanstalk... only to start corkscrewing downwards again.

"Dean!" Sam yelped in a voice so high pitched that it would have been comical in any other circumstances.  Dean decided to stop trying to think about how to move his wings, and just tell his soul where he wanted the wings to take him.  If his soul wanted these wings so badly, maybe it had some instincts about how to move them.

Their flight leveled off again, and the next thing Dean knew they were soaring upwards.  So long as he didn't overthink it, his wings knew how to fly.  With each mighty flap Dean's wings were carrying them back upwards to where everyone else was still waiting for them.  There were cheers of surprise and relief as they got closer.

Dean really hoped that he wasn't about to crash into a magical protective barrier surrounding the beanstalk, or the beanstalk itself.  He held his breath, and tried to trust his wings to guide him in the landing.  Fortunately they didn't crash.  Dean felt a tingle when he passed through the barrier this time, but it didn’t prevent him from passing through.  Dean's wings guided them into a brief hover close enough that Cas could reach out and pull them back to the beanstalk.  They were safe.  A few tears of relief slipped down Dean's cheeks.  It was probably going to be a few moments before Sam was ready to let go of Dean and grab onto the beanstalk again instead.  Sam was still shaking in Dean’s arms, and clung to Dean with a white knuckled grip.  But it was the look in Cas' eyes that nearly broke Dean.

"The barrier... I tried to come after you, but I couldn't...," Cas sounded more distressed and shaken than Dean thought the angel could get.  Were those tears threatening to spill from Cas' eyes?

"Shh – it's okay Cas.  We're alive.  We're okay," Dean soothed.  Cas nodded, the corner of his lips raising upwards in looked like a weak attempt at a smile.

"Angels aren't supposed to feel things like this.  These emotions, they are overwhelming," Cas whispered, like he was afraid of these new things he was feeling.  Dean suddenly wondered if Cas had become part human at the same time that Dean had become part angel.  Was Cas quietly suffering through his own changes while helping out Dean?  Dean felt like an idiot for not asking before, but this wasn't a good time for that conversation.

"Are you and your boyfriend sharing those morning bowls of Wheaties?" Shayna asked.  Dean suddenly felt very self-conscious about Shayna and Henriksen gawking at his wings, but he wasn't feeling comfortable enough to put them away.

"Yeah, something like that.  Let's keep going.  It's not much further to the top," Dean replied.  Sam reluctantly let go of Dean and carefully pulled himself back onto the beanstalk.

"Dean...," Sam began, the look on his face expressing more than words ever could.  But Dean wasn't going to let this turn into more of a chick flick moment than it already was.

"No problem, Sammy.  Just work on your kung-fu grip on these vines next time, bitch," Dean replied, and gave Sam a light punch on the shoulder.

"Jerk," Sam replied with an eye roll and a small smile.  Together they started their accent once again.


	5. Chapter 5

It felt like a miracle when they finally reached the top.

Dean wasn't sure what he'd been expecting – maybe a land made from clouds – but the pocket dimension (as Cas called it) that they'd entered didn't look that much different from Earth.  There was a medieval looking castle in the distance, and between here and there were trees, and grass, and rocks...

And of course two giants sleeping not far from the top of the beanstalk on either side of the yellow brick road leading up to the castle.  So much for any minuscule hope Dean had for not having to face the giants.  He wasn't very confident that they could sneak past the giants without either of them waking up.  Dean had thought that the huge Blue Ox that had attacked him yesterday had been big, but now he had to seriously reconsider his definition of big.  The Blue Ox was proportionally the size of a cat compared to these giants, maybe even a kitten.  That made humans no more than bite-sized morsels compared to these monsters.

In other words, they were totally screwed.  Dean didn't even want to imagine Cas trying to go up against one of them.

"Maybe there's a detour to the castle?" Shayna whispered hopefully, but even just her quiet whisper was enough to make one of the giants stir in his sleep.  Apparently the giants were very light sleepers, which was just freakin' perfect.  They needed a distraction so they could slip by unnoticed.

Dean motioned for the others to be quiet and get low, and ignored Sam's frantic arm waving informing him that Sam thought Dean was going to do something stupid.  Very carefully, and trying not to make a sound, Dean snuck down to a bush halfway between the two giants.  The snoring was quite loud, but neither giant woke up before Dean was safely hidden in the bushes.  He had reluctantly put away his wings to make himself less visible, especially since the damn things had a tendency to move on their own.  The last thing he needed was for his wings to rustle the bushes and give away his position.

Taking careful aim, Dean took a deep breath and tossed a rock at one of the giants, hitting it square in the eye.

"THAT'S NOT FUNNY!" the giant roared.  "GO BACK TO SLEEP!"  It felt like an earthquake as the giant shifted around before rolling over and trying to go back to sleep.

"Quit whining you baby, I didn't do anything!" the second giant complained without even opening his eyes.

Dean waited a few more minutes before chucking a rock at the second giant.  He was proud of his aim because he also managed to hit this giant right in the eye.  These rocks were much too small to cause any real damage to the giants, but it was hard not to laugh at how easy it was to rile them up.

"Oh sure, real mature, bro!  Just because you can't sleep, don't take it out on me!" the second giant whined, giving his sleeping brother a shove.

"You're the one who won't let me sleep!" the first giant insisted, now looking even more pissed off as he flipped over to glare at his brother.  They continued to glare at each other for a few minutes before both closing their eyes in a huff.

Dean smirked, and waited for just the right moment to toss another rock at the first giant.

"THAT'S IT!" the first giant roared as he slammed into the second giant, just narrowly missing the bush where Dean was hiding.  The two of them tumbled down a large hill before starting a punching match at the bottom.

Nobody in their small group needed to be told twice as they all started racing towards the castle while the giants were preoccupied.  It was hard to run with the ground shaking so violently under their feet, and without realizing it, Dean brought his wings out again to help balance himself.  They didn't slow down until they were at least a mile away, which wasn't very far for a giant, but they were out of breath.  The earthquakes from the giants fighting weren't quite as strong here at least as they pressed forward.

"Dean!  You nearly got yourself killed back there!" Sam scolded him.

"Yeah, well – the only thing big enough to distract a giant is another giant, so you're welcome," Dean replied.

 

* * *

 

Nothing quite makes you feel small like being able to fit through a crack in the door.  To everyone's relief, there were no more giants inside (that they could see anyways).  Shayna reported only seeing two giants on her previous trip, but that didn't mean there weren't more somewhere.  Dean felt like a tiny little mouse, or maybe even a cockroach, scurrying around someone's house and hoping to not be stepped on.

"I sense a human female not far from here, still alive," Cas reported, and pointed to the top of a very tall bookcase.  Great – more climbing.  But the good news that Juanita was still alive drove them onward.

"Can bird boy here fly to the top?" Henriksen asked.  Dean flinched at the thought of more flying.

"Dean is still very new to his wings, and this pocket dimension is somehow blocking my powers.  I'll make a path for us to climb," Cas replied.  Cas drew his angel blade and started making cuts into the bookcase that they could use for handholds and footholds.  The dude moved surprisingly fast too, and never seemed to tire.  This marathon of a journey was wearing a lot more on the rest of them, but they pushed on and followed Cas up to the top of the bookcase.

There was only one thing on top of the bookcase – a very ornate golden jewelry box.  Shayna sprinted over to the jewelry box as soon as she reached the top of the bookcase, with the others following behind.

"Juanita?" Shayna called quietly as she approached.  Everyone had been keeping a constant watch for giants (and it wasn't likely the giants could sneak up on them) but nobody was taking any chances of being overheard.

"Shayna!" came a joyous voice from inside the jewelry box.  A woman's face appeared in the keyhole, and Shayna reached through the keyhole so they could hold hands.  Tears of joy filled both women's faces.

"Don't worry Juanita – I brought help and we're going to get you out of there!" Shayna assured her.

"Let me take a look at the lock – I haven't come across a lock yet that I couldn't pick," Dean offered.

"Or you could just use my key," said a familiar voice behind them.

"You!" a couple voices all cried together as they starred at the Trickster, who just smirked back at them.

"I thought this might have been your doing!" Sam shouted angrily as he drew a wooden stake from his inner jacket pocket.

"That won't work against him, Sam.  He is much too powerful to be a Trickster...," Cas interjected.

"Hey Castiel – long time no see!  Looks like you've been cozying up with the mortals too," the Trickster told Cas warmly.  Cas narrowed his eyes for a moment as he studied the Trickster, then widened them in shock.

"You know this asshat?" Dean asked incredulously.

"He's... my older brother.  Gabriel," Cas replied, looking like he was seeing a ghost.

"Gabriel?  The archangel?" Sam asked.

"The one and only!  But don't spread that around.  I've been in my own private Witness Protection Program for centuries, so call me Loki," Gabriel replied with a flourish, clearly enjoying the spotlight.

"Why do you want Dean dead?" Cas demanded.

"I don't, but I know who does.  I created this pocket dimension so that we could talk privately.  In fact, the human lovers and their cousin are free to go," Gabriel explained, and with a snap of his fingers Juanita was out of the jewelry box, where she was quickly embraced by Shayna.  "I dematerialized the giants, so it should be clear sailing for you kids all the way home."

"You kidnapped an innocent woman just to talk to us?" Dean growled.

"Don't get your feathers in a bunch, I'll keep my promise to them.  They can keep whatever riches they can carry.  It should make for quite the honeymoon if they can bear to drag themselves out of the bedroom," Gabriel replied with a very suggestive eyebrow wiggle.

"What do you want with me?" Dean asked.

"I want to stop the other angels from killing you again," Gabriel announced.

"I rescued Dean on Heaven's orders!" Cas protested.

"Yes, but the higher ups didn't plan on you doing it so quickly.  They wanted Dean to break first so we'd be one step closer to the apocalypse," Gabriel explained.  Dean's head spun as he tried to wrap his head around the extreme size of this revelation.  In Hell they had tried to get him to break for thirty years, and he had very nearly broken.  Was that not bad enough without forcing him to help them start the apocalypse next?  Besides, weren't angels supposed to be the good guys?

"No, that can't be true.  Heaven is just.  Heaven wouldn't condemn an innocent man back to Hell and intentionally destroy all life on Earth," Cas insisted.

"I know that you, like all the other angels, have been buying the party line that you've been spoon fed since The Beginning, but it's time to wake up and smell the rotting eggs.  Because believe me – more and more angels have been turning sour since Dad went away, and like any rotten rebellious teenagers do when unsupervised, they are taking their feelings out by egging their Father's beloved creation.  Only in this scenario, the eggs are angelic nukes that will destroy every living thing on Earth.  So unless you want that to happen, it's time to break away from the flock," Gabriel explained.

"You mean rebel?  Lucifer rebelled, and he was cast out for disobeying God's plan.  Surely whichever angels are behind this ploy will also be cast out.  Angels starting the apocalypse cannot be what God intended.  If we go to Michael...," Cas argued.

"Don't you get it?  Big brother is behind the whole thing!  Michael is trying to spring Lucifer so he can destroy him once and for all, as was foretold.  The other angels didn't think of this on their own.  They aren't free thinkers like you and me.  We've learned from Our Father's favorite creations – humans.  They haven't.  They are just following Michael's orders, and Michael has convinced himself that he's just following Dad's orders," Gabriel proclaimed with exasperation, flinging his hands around like this should all be extremely obvious.  But Cas just looked shocked, confused, and conflicted.  Dean felt all of that a hundred fold.

"But Michael is one of the few angels who ever knew God.  Could he be right?  Could this atrocity really be what God has commanded?" Cas sounded completely dismayed and broken at the thought, but that didn't stop Dean from feeling angry that he could even think that.

"So what if he did?  Are you going to just let the other angels torch the whole planet just because God said so?  Screw that!  It sounds like God is a giant douchebag...," Dean yelled.

"Dean!" Cas sounded more shocked than scolding, but Dean wasn't going to let anyone try to lecture him about 'not taking the Lord's name in vain' or any other kind of crap.

"You heard me right!  God just up and left with vague enough instructions for the freakin' apocalypse that the kids decided to throw one while he was away?  Huh?  How is that right?  Even if that is really God's plan, then it's a bad one and we need to stop it!  Come on, Cas!  Think about this!  You're better than this!" Dean insisted.  He looked deep into Cas' eyes, and could actually feel the terror and doubt coming from them.  But Dean could also feel the sparks of yearning to trust in Dean and believe in what he was saying.

"Angels were created with the sole purpose of obeying God's commands.  If I do this, we will all be hunted.  We will all be killed," Cas replied.

"If there is anything worth dying for... this is it," Dean pleaded.  That spark in Cas' eyes was growing bigger.  Dean felt like he was really reaching him.

"Woah there," Gabriel interjected.  "I may have some appreciation for this crazy planet, and absolutely no desire to let my big brothers start fighting again, but I never said that I'd die for the cause.  I'm just here to facilitate things behind the scenes."

"Coward," Sam muttered.  Gabriel glared at him with hurt in his eyes, but didn't get a chance to snap back an angry retort before a pissed off Cas got in Gabriel's face.

"Are you saying that you'd sooner let Dean go back to Hell that risk exposing yourself?" Cas demanded.  Cas looked surprisingly intimidating, despite rocking the holy tax accountant look, but to Gabriel's credit he didn't even flinch.

"You in this to save billions of humans, or just your boyfriend?" Gabriel implied coolly with a raised eyebrow.

"W-what the hell do I have to do with the apocalypse?" Dean asked, his voice coming out weaker than usual.

"Doesn't matter so long as we can keep Dean out of Hell long enough to screw over their plans for good," Gabriel replied.

"Then I won't ever leave Dean's side!  I'll fight them off!  I'll fight them all off!" Cas declared with a fire in his voice that suggested he just might smite anyone who even looked at Dean the wrong way.

“Cas…,” Dean began, not sure how to put his reaction into words.  Here Cas was ready to fight – and maybe even die – just to protect him from going back to Hell.  Dean was no good at chick flick moments.  Luckily words didn’t seem necessary here.  Cas met his gaze, and everything Cas was feeling showed in his eyes – protective, loving, adoring.  Even though they had only known each other a short time, Dean clearly already meant the world to Cas, and Cas was willing to do anything for him.  It was mutual.  Dean realized that he felt the same way about Cas.  He would fight, and even die again if it came to that, in order to protect Cas too.  Dean felt like he was only just beginning to understand just how much Cas meant to him, but he wanted them both to survive long enough for him to find out.

“My, my, has little Castiel grown up,” Gabriel beamed proudly, interrupting the moment.  Dean still thought that Gabriel was a bag of dicks, but he was Cas’ brother, and he was helping them, so Dean would reluctantly tolerate him.

“So how do we fight off a bunch of angels long enough to kill Lilith?” Sam asked.  Sam’s eyes still showed pain at the thought that (at least some) angels were the bad guys so he’d have to kill them, but his jaw was set with determination to protect his brother.

“Try to kill Lilith before the angels catch wind of your change in plans, since as the human of the group you can’t manifest any weapons that could kill an angel,” Gabriel replied.  Gabriel’s eyes briefly flicked over to Dean for a moment, reaffirming his implications.  Gabriel knew that Dean was part angel now, and he thought that he could manifest a blade like the one that Cas had manifested a few times.

“But what about the angels that are trying to kill Dean?” Sam asked.

“The angels aren’t attacking Dean directly.  Zachariah, a pompous dickwad in middle management, decided to outsource the assassination so that none of his foot soldiers would ever be the wiser that he’s trying to start the apocalypse instead of stop it.  But unfortunately for him, he made the mistake of unknowingly approaching my peeps – the tricksters.  Once word got around to me what he was trying to do, I told them all to stand down,” Gabriel explained.

“Stand down?  Dean was nearly killed!” Sam argued, glaring at Gabriel like he was still holding a grudge against him for all the other times he’d killed Dean.

“…and since then you guys weren’t attacked by tricksters once while driving halfway across the country through the territories of multiple other tricksters,” Gabriel countered.  “None of them are going to hunt Dean now, and some of them might be friendly towards Dean in the future since I explained that his new form has some affinity towards two tricksters.”

“Hold up – I thought I was just part angel now, not part trickster,” Dean interrupted, glancing at Cas and seeing that his angel was confused as well.  Gabriel sighed in exasperation.

“Do I really have to spell it out for you?  No, you are not ‘part trickster’ but since both your new faces are reminiscent of other tricksters it reflects a very trickster-like-quality to your soul,” Gabriel explained.

“Okay, coyote I get – he’s one of the most famous tricksters I’ve heard of, but a squirrel?” Dean questioned.

“Come on now!  Ratatoskr?  You know, the squirrel who runs up and down Yggdrasil, the world tree?” Gabriel replied.

“Sounds symbolic of Dean – Ratatoskr transverses all of Yggdrasil, having connections between Heaven, Earth, and Hell – branches, trunk, and roots,” Sam commented.

“Good thing that at least Sammich here paid attention in mythology class,” Gabriel replied with a small smile.

Dean might just have to look up Ratatoskr later – maybe his squirrel side was more badass than he was giving it credit for.  Even though he didn’t have either of his other faces manifested at the moment, he felt the squirrel part of his soul light up excitedly at the prospect of his acceptance.  But Dean still wasn’t completely on board with such an intimate part of him being symbolic of his connection to three realms.  Heaven sounded like it was mostly full of douchebags who couldn’t think for themselves, and Dean didn’t want to have much to do with any of them except Cas.  Worse, Dean hated his connection to Hell even though he knew that it had left a permanent mark on him as well.  The only bright side he could see is that he might never have met Cas if he hadn’t gone to Hell.  Son of a bitch, all of his trains of thought just kept leading him right back to Cas.  He had it bad for his angel.  Now if only they could figure out how to both survive this mission, maybe he could convince Cas to stay with him afterwards.


	6. Chapter 6

Henriksen coughed to get everyone’s attention.  Dean had forgotten that the three civilians were still there.  He was a bit impressed that they hadn’t run away first chance they got once they realized that they were dealing with an archangel warning them about the freakin’ apocalypse.  But none of these three were showing any signs of the fear they undoubtedly felt.  While Dean hated dragging people into The Life and all the dangers and heartbreak it brought, he could see from how calmly they were taking all of this that they had what it took to be hunters.

“Do any of you know where Lilith is, or do you need our help tracking her down?  If you know what host body she’s riding around in, I can run her through the FBI databases and see if we find a match,” Henriksen offered.

Maybe having an ally in the FBI could be handy after all.  Dean made a mental note to set something up later where hunters could send Henriksen names of hard-to-find suspected meatsuits.  He remembered the time when Henriksen confessed his frustration of spending years chasing after just one monster to save a few people.  If they played their cards right, Henriksen could end up saving many more lives than his current job was letting him do, just like he wanted.  Not that Dean was going to let any of these civilians become full hunters if he had anything to say about it, but maybe just a technical liaison would scratch Henriksen’s itch without letting him get too deep.

“Well, last I saw of Lilith, she had just vacated the body of a little girl and possessed Ruby…,” Dean began, trying very hard not to think about what happened next that night.  Unbidden, the memories of the hellhounds ripping him to shreds still flashed in his mind, making his throat tighten and his breath quicken.  Dean looked to Sam to continue the story, since they had never really talked about what had happened immediately after Dean had died.  Dean was grateful when Cas placed his hand on Dean’s shoulder, comforting him enough to keep his breathing under control.  He also could have sworn that he felt Cas’ wings give him a brief embrace, even though they weren’t manifested.

“Lilith tried to kill me with some kind of blinding white light, but I was somehow immune, and so when she couldn’t kill me she freaked out and bailed.  I gave Ruby’s old meatsuit a hunter’s funeral once I accepted that she wasn’t coming back,” Sam explained in a dead tone that showed how much he didn’t want to think about that night either.

“Immune?” Dean asked in alarm.

“Not to worry – so long as we keep Dean-o here from going back to Hell, Sammy will never have to play his role in the apocalypse either,” Gabriel replied.  If that was meant to be reassuring, it wasn’t.  It only served to scare the crap out of them more to know that Sam was being manipulated by the angels just like Dean.  But they’d cross that bridge when they came to it – hopefully never.

“Well, if we don’t have a particular face to search for, I can still try searching based on her known preferences for host bodies and we can narrow it down from there,” Henriksen offered.

“What does Lilith want?  Aside from the apocalypse of course.  Is there a way to get her to come to you?” Juanita asked.

“That depends – do you think she knows that we, and possibly some of the other angels, have been tasked with capturing her alive?” Dean asked.

"I bet Zachariah made sure the news made it through the grapevine to reach her.  He wouldn't want you to catch her too quickly since he needs to give his assassins time to get to you first," Gabriel replied.

"Still, there must be something that she'd want bad enough to risk coming out of hiding for.  I'm a professor of creative writing, and I always tell my students that if you set the stage right, you can make any character do anything.  So what does Lilith want most of all?" Juanita asked.

"Does Lilith still really want Sam's intestines on a stick?" Henriksen asked.  "Or does that interfere with whatever role Sam is supposed to play in the apocalypse?"  Dean couldn’t help twitching at how matter-of-fact Henriksen talked about topics like Dean’s little brother playing a role in the apocalypse.

"Sammy's role in the apocalypse has been pretty much kept to a need to know basis.  Lilith would probably still hunt him for her own reasons if she thought she could kill him," Gabriel explained.

"So if I can find a weapon that can kill her, and I lure her into a trap...," Sam speculated eagerly.

"No can do.  If you knuckleheads want to do this right, Dean has to be the one to kill Lilith," Gabriel countered.

"Dean?  But why?  Hasn't he been through...?" Sam protested.  Dean frowned at the worried glance that Sam sent his way, almost like he didn't think Dean could do it.  But just because their last encounter had gone horribly wrong didn't mean this time would.  They were going in much better prepared now, with lots more knowledge and much stronger allies.

"I don't make the rules," Gabriel cut Sam off.  "Castiel – how about you teach your new beau how to manifest an angel blade while we strategize a way to inveigle Lilith."

“You really think the blade of a part-angel can take down a demon as powerful as Lilith?” Dean asked skeptically.

“The blade of the Righteous Man is foretold to be able to do the trick,” Gabriel assured him.  Dean mouthed back the words ‘Righteous Man’ in complete bewilderment at how such a term could possibly refer to him, but Gabriel merely waved him off and refused to elaborate.

 

* * *

 

"You seem more at ease with manifesting your wings," Cas commented once they had found a quiet spot away from the group.  Dean relaxed and easily let his wings out again in a casual stretch.  It felt good to have them out again in a place where there was no judgment.  Sure, none of the others had done more than crack a few jokes about his wings, but nobody quite looked at him the same anymore now that they knew he was part supernatural.  Even the Tr-Gabriel seemed to have a new odd glint in his eyes when he looked at Dean that didn't use to be there.  But Cas accepted Dean completely in a way nobody else ever had.  Whatever weird stuff Dean could do now wouldn't even faze Cas.

"Yeah you were right.  Once I spent some time hanging out with them, getting used to them, and accepting that they're a part of me now... plus, you know, nothing makes you connect to your soul like plummeting to certain doom," Dean replied with a weak attempt at a nervous laugh.  He still never wanted to fly again if he could help it.  That part wasn't changing, but he was willing to let his soul have the other things it wanted, at least around Cas and maybe sometimes Sammy too.

Consciously letting his other faces out was still a little harder, but now that Dean had gotten the hang of manifesting his wings, the skill mostly transferred to his new faces.  Going from two eyes to six eyes was still disorienting at first, but Dean adapted more quickly this time around.  It was kinda nice actually.  Dean felt like he'd been wearing blinders all day and now he could finally really see.

"Aren't some animals not supposed to be able to see in full color?" Dean wondered aloud.  It was still a bit weird to hear his three voices echoing, but he was getting used to it.

"Only some parts of the human eye can detect color, and your brain fills in the gaps in color.  Your brain is probably is doing the same when it is integrating your new eyes with your human ones.  Full angels naturally see a wider spectrum of light than humans can, so it isn't an issue with angels who don't have a human face.  For instance, most angels of a higher rank have more faces than my three, but it is rare that any of them have a human face, and that doesn't hinder them any," Cas explained.

Dean had been so focused on the similarities between him and Cas that it hadn't occurred to him that Cas' forward facing face still being human (inside or outside his vessel) was something unusual for angels.  Maybe Cas' human face was a sign that his angel had been connected to humanity even before they'd ever met.

"Huh," Dean replied, filing that nugget of information away for later and giving Cas a small smile.  "So how do I do this angel blade?"

"Watch my energies while I demonstrate," Cas instructed.

Dean wasn't really sure what he was supposed to 'watch' since there was no swirl of light or anything.  It looked like Cas' angel blade just slipped down into his hand out of nowhere.  Cas must have sensed Dean’s confusion, because he retracted his angel blade and then rematerialized it a few times.  Dean blinked blankly back at Cas, unable to discern anything.  Maybe they were wrong and Dean hadn’t absorbed enough angel mojo to do this.

“Close your eyes and focus on just feeling my Grace manifesting my blade,” Cas suggested.  Cas walked right up behind Dean, like he was the big spoon to Dean’s little spoon.  Cas extended his right arm and aligned it with Dean’s so that they were right on top of each other.

The pulsing of energy beneath Cas’ skin was definitely much more apparent from this position.  Way too apparent actually.  How was Dean supposed to concentrate on angel blade lessons with Cas’ body pressed up against him like this?  Part of Dean’s traitorous mind kept drifting to a very different kind of ‘angel blade’ that he’d rather be focused on getting to know.

“Focus Dean,” Cas reminded him softly, and Dean could have sworn that there was the tiniest of smirks gracing those chapped pink lips that were only inches away from him.  The bastard could probably sense the effect that he was having on Dean.

Dean sighed and closed his eyes and tried to block out all temptations.  Cas materialized his angel blade again, but this time Dean could sense Cas’ Grace gathering and then forming the blade.  He repeated the process of materializing and dematerializing the angel blade a dozen times until Dean could mentally follow what Cas was doing easily.  The process really wasn’t that different from materializing his wings.

“Now you try,” Cas breathed onto Dean’s neck, making Dean shiver despite his best attempts to control himself.  Dean reached down into his soul, and tried to just let the angel blade come as naturally to him as his wings did.  He was a warrior – a blade should be the most normal thing for him to manifest.  It took a few minutes of concentration before he could get his soul to cooperate since this was the first time he was trying to get it to do this particular trick, but eventually he felt his energies surge towards his awaiting hand.  Cool metal slipped down into his hand.

“Awesome,” Dean breathed as he admired his shiny new blade.  Cas hummed in approval next to him, still wrapped around Dean.  Cas’ breath was still on Dean’s neck, a fact that Dean was now even more acutely aware of since he had now accomplished the task at hand.

Without even thinking about it, Dean’s squirrel face leaned in the final two inches to reach Cas, and started licking Cas’ face.  When he realized what he was doing, Dean startled and tried to pull away, but Cas just pulled him closer.  Cas let emotions of love and adoration flow into Dean.  It only took Dean a moment to get with the program and turn so that his human mouth could meet Cas’ eager lips.  The angel was clearly very inexperienced with kissing, but he made up for it with enthusiasm.  Dean moaned in pleasure once Cas figured out how much Dean liked it when Cas licked his way into Dean’s mouth.  He could have sworn that Cas actually started purring once Dean’s fingers found their way to Cas’ hair.

They could practice more angel mojo later.  For now they were both just overjoyed to finally let their souls and grace have something else they’d been yearning for.

 

* * *

 

The plan that the others came up with sounded do-able.  Well, at least Gabriel thought that Lilith would most likely show up, and if any of the other angels were watching, they shouldn’t realize the change in plans until it was too late to interfere.  Gabriel still insisted that he wasn’t going to get directly involved in the fighting because he didn’t want to blow his whole ‘personal witness protection program’ thing.  However Gabriel did agree to get some of his trickster buddies to play a few crucial roles in the plan.

Sam seemed more sympathetic about Gabriel not wanting to fight his brothers, and appreciative of the help he did give them, than Dean was.  Dean was also pissed that the archangel wouldn’t just snap his fingers and return everyone to the bottom of the beanstalk.  Nope – they had to climb all the way down every terrifying inch.  Backpacks full of gold didn’t make the climb any easier either.  Most of the gold went to Shayna and Juanita as the engagement gift that Gabriel had promised them in exchange for their ordeal.  However the women insisted on giving the Winchesters enough gold to tide them over for a few months.  Since they were going to be busy saving the world, at least they wouldn’t have to worry about taking time out to hustle pool and steal credit cards for a while.

The three civilians offered their help in the final battle, but Sam and Dean both turned them down.  Once you were in The Life there was no way out, so it was better to not let civilians get in too deep in the first place.  But it was nice to get some of rare ‘thank you for your help’ type speeches that most civilians were too busy screaming and running away to bother with.

The Winchesters only had about a week until the next new moon, the date their plan would spring into action.  What were the chances that they could pull this off smoothly?

 

* * *

 

Dean ran through the trees, trying not to freak out about the huge crashes and roars behind him.  He really, really wanted to deep fry himself an archangel right about now.  Sure, it was part of the plan for some sort of trickster-fabricated monsters to force Sam, Dean, and Cas to separate, but it was supposed to be some kind of monster they could actually fight!

The giant mound of living rocks that was uprooting whole trees was, of course, completely immune to the guns and knives Dean had on him.

“Trolls under a bridge – really?  We couldn’t have gone for the case with the herd of rabid jackalopes?” Dean yelled into his cellphone.  The forest was near pitch black because of the new moon, so he had to be extra careful not to trip as he ran.  Dean had argued in favor of spread the rumor that it was the Full Moon that would take away Sam’s immunity, but his vote had been overturned because nobody wanted to wait for the Full Moon.  Waiting longer to spring their plan into action would run the risk of Zachariah commissioning other supernatural beings to assassinate Dean.  Apparently Zachariah wasn’t known for his patience.  So now Dean was stuck running through a dark forest while being chased by living rocks.  Just peachy.

“Hold on to your horses, ya idjit.  I’ve got the lore books right here, and it says that trolls are vulnerable to fire…,” Bobby’s voice reassured him.

Dean jumped as a rock projectile narrowly missed him.  This monster was just supposed to PRETEND to try to kill him, wasn’t it?  If Dean hadn’t been working hard with Cas to learn how to see using his extra eyes without manifesting them, then Dean might not have been able to dodge that one in time.  This play fight was feeling all too life-threateningly real.

Fortunately, the abandoned hunting cabin and pile of kindling that Dean ‘accidentally’ stumbled across was exactly where it was supposed to be.  The pile of kindling was even old enough to have acquired a thick layer of moss on top – perfect for a quick fire starter.  Dean was quite relieved that he hadn’t gotten direction turned in the dark.  With a flick of his lighter, Dean set the pile of kindling on fire.

The troll screeched to a halt when it saw the burning pile of logs.  It roared at Dean, and started circling him, trying to find a way to get to him without getting too close to the fire.  But Dean didn’t have time to waste waiting for the troll to come to him.  So he started throwing hunks of burning wood at the troll.  The first one landed on one of the troll’s feet.  The troll howled in pain, hopping on one foot while it tried to swat at the fire burning on its other foot.  Dean took that opportunity to throw another chunk of burning wood – and beaned the troll right between the eyes.  With another holler of pain, the troll fell over with an earthshaking crash.  Then, while it was riling on the ground in agony, it evaporated into thin air, just like the blue ox had previously.

“Fire did the trick.  Thanks Bobby.  I’ll go find Sam and Cas and help them with the other two trolls that took off after them,” Dean reported before ending the call.  The pile of burning kindling was a long way from anything else flammable, so there shouldn’t be any risk of starting a forest fire.  That left him free to go rendezvous with where Sam was planning to defeat his troll…

“Well, well, alone at last.  It’s good to see you again Dean,” a slimy voice said behind him.

Shit.  Shit.  SHIT!  Alastair showing up was NOT part of the plan!

Dean tried not to panic as he turned to face the monster who had tortured him in Hell for 30 long years.  He couldn’t see the demon’s true face, but he recognized the energy he could feel from the twisted black soul possessing the meatsuit.

“Alastair,” Dean spit out the name with disgust and hate.  “Didn’t think you liked how cold it is topside.”  Dean tried to keep Alastair talking while he figured out a plan.  He was good at manifesting his angel blade on command now, but if he lunged at Alastair and missed, it would be bad if Alastair spread the news about Dean’s new angel mojo.  Should Dean pray to Cas?  Cas should be finishing off his troll right about now and heading to the rendezvous point.  But what if Alastair hurt Cas?

“Well it is quite unpleasant up here,” Alastair replied, wrinkling his nose.  “But so is one of my toys getting out of the toybox.  You had to know that was only temporary.  After all, I’m not done carving you into a new animal.  And I’ve got to say, Dean – you have a lot of potential just waiting to be tapped.”  Alastair casually strolled closer to Dean.  He always liked to take his time with his prey so he could watch them squirm.

“That’s never going to happen.  The answer is no, and the answer will always be no!” Dean snapped back with more resolve than he’d had in decades.

“You can't run.  Not from me. I'm inside that angsty little noggin of yours,” Alastair sneered, continuing to come closer.  Maybe Dean could successfully gank Alastair with his angel blade if he got close enough, but only if Alastair didn’t see it coming…

Suddenly blue-white lightening rained down from the heavens and struck Alastair.  Alastair struggled, unable to escape.  But then a bright white circle of light completely engulfed Alastair.  Dean had to shield his eyes from the brightness of the light, and when he opened them, Alastair was gone.

“What the hell?” Dean asked.

“I successfully captured the demon!  Dean Winchester is safe!” a woman’s voice boosted proudly behind him.  Dean spun around and saw a woman with shoulder length dark hair and very blue eyes.  She held herself almost as stiffly as Cas did, and Dean could sense angel Grace inside her vessel.  The new angel stared right back at Dean, and then her eyes suddenly grew wide with horror and shock.

Shit.  Even without her saying a word, Dean had a horrible feeling that he knew what the problem was.  Just as he could sense angel Grace in her, she could probably sense the little bit of angel Grace that he’d gotten from Cas.  Cas had said that their Profound Bond was forbidden.  Other angels might even kill him for it.

“Hannah!  What are you doing?” a new angry voice rang out.  An angel wearing a smug looking businessman had arrived, and his face was red with fury.

“I apprehended a high ranking demon, sir.  Alastair is now in custody, sir,” Hannah reported dutifully.  Her superior officer looked livid, like Hannah had done something he didn’t want, but he was holding back.  Dean had a bad feeling that he knew exactly who the new angel was.  If he was right, this douchebag was angry because Hannah had saved Dean’s life instead of letting Alastair kill him.

“I want you, and any other angels in the area, to go guard Alastair.  He is very important to our plans, and we need him alive.  Don’t do anything else until I return,” the businessman ordered.

“Dean Winchester…,” Hannah began, giving Dean another wide eyed glance.

“I can see for myself what Castiel did with him, and I will handle the situation accordingly.  Now, you have your orders!” the dickwad snapped.

With a flap of wings, Hannah was gone.  As the businessman turned towards Dean, Dean felt his stomach drop.  That smug face grinned in a very devilish expression, eyeing Dean like a bug he was about to squash.

“Dean Winchester.  I'm Castiel's superior, Zachariah,” smug-face announced, confirming Dean’s fears.


End file.
